Julie McCrossin gets people talking

Julie is renowned across Australia for her warmth, humour, intelligence and commitment to social justice. After 20 years as a broadcaster with ABC Radio, ABC TV and Network 10, she is now a freelance journalist, facilitator, trainer and speaker.

From private workshops with small groups of people to huge public events, Julie has built a reputation for bringing people together, getting them communicating and helping them achieve positive outcomes.

Julie has become an Ambassador for Targeting Cancer. She had oropharyngeal cancer treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy in 2013, and is now back to her usual busy life.

Over 100,000 Australians are diagnosed with cancer each year. In 2010, 21,235 cancers were registered in New Zealand. It is estimated that about half of them will benefit from radiation therapy as part of their overall cancer treatment.

Watch this series of videos to follow Julie's treatment journey, from diagnosis and treatment to embracing the future.

A career in radio broadcasting saw Julie McCrossin spend plenty of time inside a room alone and under pressure. “I was used to being in a glass box by myself with people on the other side communicating to me through my headset or on a computer screen,” she says.

But this meant nothing when lying on a linac machine receiving her first radiation therapy for stage 4 oropharyngeal cancer while her loved ones waited outside.

“I was flushed, having heart palpations and sweating,” she recalls. “I thought, ‘my god, I’m having a panic attack’.” There was little time for Julie to prepare for the 30 straight days of radiation and weekly chemotherapy at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.

A month earlier, cancer wasn’t even on the radar for the then 58-year-old. “It never crossed my mind that I could have cancer. Never.”